Here we will take a look into turmeric and its main bioactive component curcumin. Some of the benefits as well as the bioavailability of it will be spoken about in this post. Enjoy the read and we hope to see you on the next one.
Curcumin, a constituent from the rhizome of the herb Curcuma Longa (turmeric), has received widespread attention over the past decade. Excitement originated after encouraging in vitro discoveries showed its influence on many biological mechanisms associated with several diseases.
Despite these positive effects, a major criticism of curcumin is its poor bioavailability.
Curcumin’s potential as a therapeutic agent may not necessarily rely on its bioavailability, but rather, its medicinal benefits may also arise from its positive influence on gastrointestinal health and function. The importance of our gastrointestinal system has long been recognized.
Curcumin has been shown to influence the diversity of our microbiota.
Curcumin is widely recognized as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and it is believed that these mechanisms account significantly for its health-enhancing capacity.
Curcumin is fat-soluble, so if you take regular curcumin with just water, you will absorb very little. It is best to take curcumin with a fatty meal. This also means that you’ll absorb little curcumin if adding turmeric or curcumin to tea or to a fruit or vegetable smoothly containing little fat. Adding whole or reduced-fat milk or yogurt, or vegetable/seed oils, will provide fats that can enhance curcumin absorption.
Because the integrity of our gastrointestinal tract has wide-reaching influences on the health and function of our whole body, it is argued that curcumin’s health-enhancing benefits may at least be partly derived via its positive gastrointestinal effect.
With the increasing burden of environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors on our gastrointestinal system and the influence our gut has on the health of our overall body, interventions to protect and improve its function are imperative